Salesforce.com gives presidential candidates a SAAS boost
Friday, February 22nd, 2008“Raise more money, transform operations, and build stronger donor relationships.” This is the promise of Salesforce.com’s foray into the political arena, a new service called CampaignForce. With the recent proliferation of Software As A Service (SAAS) products and increasingly tech-savvy political candidates, it’s no surprise to see a service like CampaignForce marketed to campaign managers. Salesforce’s political product is meant to help candidates run their campaigns like a business and treat their supporters like customers.
CampaignForce works much like Salesforce’s other SAAS options, which focus on customer relationship management (CRM). The idea is to give campaign staffers the same quick access to donor information and statistics that customer service reps have to client information. Candidates and staffers can view an easy-to-read landing page which displays pertinent data such as recent polls, fundraising progress, outreach efforts, and public appearances. The user-friendly interface can even be paired with other applications to pull data from YouTube (to see how many hits campaign ads are receiving) and generate financial reports for the Federal Election Committee, saving staffers time and ensuring the accuracy of the records.
One of the biggest benefits of using a web-based service rather than traditional software is the ability to access information at any time, from any location with internet access. This is especially applicable to political candidates, who are constantly on the move. Staffers in a mobile command center (like a wired RV or bus) would still have the ability to serve the needs of donors, journalists, and voters. CampaignForce is hosted on Salesforce servers, eliminating the need for complicated and costly data centers.
As of February 4th, a Salesforce press release revealed that their services are being used by nearly 30 political campaigns. It’s no surprise that one early adopter was Republican contender Mitt Romney, who suspended his campaign on February 7th. The veteran businessman raised $20.7 million in the first quarter of 2007, despite polls showing him behind Guiliani and McCain. Romney’s campaign manager Alex Burgos reportedly attributed the fundraising success to CampaignForce. Ron Paul is another remarkable fundraiser, and his campaign, well-known for their Web 2.0 efforts, also uses CampaignForce.
While some candidates jump at the chance to store their data on Salesforce servers, the service got a slow start. In an interview with eWeek, senior VP of global public policy Dan Burton says, “They’re [candidates] wary of putting data on the internet. They’re just now awakening to this potential.” However, as this type of data hosting service becomes more and more popular among businesses, it’s only a matter of time before campaign managers join the enterprise world in welcoming SAAS technology.
By Haley January Eckels
